


Confession

by Animillion



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Confident Senku, Gift Exchange, Love Confessions, M/M, Nervousness, Shy Xeno, Smash Bros, TKSSecretSanta2020, TKSevents, TheKingdomofShipping, kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:21:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27862234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Animillion/pseuds/Animillion
Summary: Dr. Xeno is all too used to being rejected for who he is. And when he finally develops hard feelings for Senku, he truly thinks it will be the same.
Relationships: Ishigami Senkuu/Dr. Xeno
Comments: 5
Kudos: 29
Collections: 2020 TKS Secret Santa





	Confession

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rikamae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rikamae/gifts).



A deep breath is all it takes. A deep breath. A small count down. A curling of toes and clenching of hands. A biting of the tongue. A deep swallow of nerves. 

Xeno opens his eyes to stare at himself in the mirror. It’s then he realizes in his effort to present himself as elegantly as possible, he totally missed the mark. His pompadour has many stray hairs. There are dark circles under his eyes. His mouth twitches in a desperate attempt to look calm. Worst of all, his normally steady hands now quiver. 

The pace of his heart only quickens. Ever since he had realized these feelings of affection to his mentee, he couldn’t think as clear as he wished to. When they’re alone all he can do is stare in adoration at him. Watch him speak so vividly about their new space project. So excited with that little smirk of his. The crease in his eyes as he studies old rocket designs was also a favorite. All the questions that Xeno has answers to. Such an innocent guy had turned Xeno completely upside down. 

He pulls at the skin of his eye and sighs. Xeno could speak with Senku all day. Even at the late hours of the night he finds himself longing for the company of him. Whether it was talking about the long intricacies of human DNA or just learning what his new favorite video game was. 

Xeno even bought a Nintendo Switch just to play games with Senku. He was honest and had lots of fun doing it. He hadn’t touched a gaming console since the damn Atari. That makes him feel old as sin but really he’s not that old. Not old enough to be Senku’s father- maybe a big brother. But he feels much more than familial with him. 

Xeno sighs again at himself and rubs his eyes. Tonight they were having a Super Smash brothers tournament and he’s sure he’d get his ass kicked by Senku’s favorite character to beat him with: Jigglypuff. 

He laughs at how pathetic he is. How hopelessly infatuated with Senku he is. 

Tonight he would confess to Senku his long kept feelings. The ones he swore to hide. The ones he had to hide most of his life. People are cruel. And the only one to understand him was dear Stanley. Stan understood that who he loved wasn’t a damn choice. If it were so easy to not, he wouldn’t feel desire for other men at all. It would have saved him a lot of heartache in the long run. 

But these feelings are so exciting. They’re new despite that he knew he was only attracted to men. They’re new because he had never felt so connected to someone. Not even his beloved friend Stanley. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t go to hell and back with the marine. They are a ride or die type. But Senku...

Senku makes his whole world turn upside down. Like the sky suddenly has more pigment. The grass smells fresh. The morning birds aren’t even annoying anymore. Because morning means he gets to come into work and see Senku. 

And the first thing he does every morning is share a cup of coffee with the younger man. The first thing he sees is his half grin every morning. 

Xeno feels his face heat up. He can no longer meet his own eyes in the mirror. There’s a buzz from the phone tucked neatly in his back pocket. It’s time to go. 

• • •

Senku’s house is always warm. Xeno doesn’t know how he keeps the living room smelling of fresh linen. Nor how the air always feels like the way one feels when under blankets within a frozen room. Maybe it was the influence of his father? 

Thinking of said man makes him swallow thick. Byakuya was the one to first call him out on his feelings. He’s a retired astronaut now, but he does visit sometimes. And oh how observant he was the day Senku left for the restroom during their lunch. 

He didn’t expect Byakuya to be so bold that day. To call him out on his blatant flirtation. He had sounded so happy though. Approving of him. It was.. weird to say the least. 

“Are you okay?”

Xeno snaps from his trance. His character, Bowser, just fell off the side of the stage and had his ass throughly kicked by, as he had suspected, Jigglypuff. 

“I’m... fine.”

“If you didn’t want to come over you didn’t have to.” Senku is looking at him almost accusatory. 

“I promise I didn’t come over just to make you happy.” He presses a finger to the blonds nose, watching it crinkle in dismay.

Senku is quiet a moment before sighing and shrugging. “Let’s stop here and I’ll make dinner.” 

Senku makes them hamburgers- more specifically made from turkey. Xeno finds himself even in love with Senku’s cooking. From the way it doesn’t feel so greasy to the way he cuts his own burger into halves to eat it. 

“You eat American food a lot?” Xeno is sure he’s asked this before- he often wants to see if Senku’s answer has changed. But there is clear annoyance on the younger man’s face. 

“It’s about half and half for me, sometimes I eat what I’m used to and other time I’ll eat American food...” he sighs, “are you sure there’s nothing up? You’re acting strange and it’s kind of annoying.”

Even his bluntness makes Xeno’s heart swell with need. 

“Yeah... I’m in love with you.” Senku doesn’t need a grand reveal. It’s just not his style. Something simple like this would do. Even if Xeno’s mind wants to trip up on his words like the inelegant conundrum love had become for him lately. 

Senku chokes and coughs into his fist. Xeno sits up immediately in alarm. Senku is fine, but doesn’t finish his coughing fit for a few moments. He has to swallow down water just to muster looking at Xeno in the face. 

Xeno looks away from him. His heart had steadily grown fast. He’s waiting for the sharpness of a voice. Waiting to be disowned or thrown out or demeaned. Senku isn’t the type to be prejudice. The fear tells him otherwise. That soon he’d no longer get to sit by him at lunch. Or ask him out for drinks in casualness. Even their work projects would now end in curt addresses and small nods. 

The bitter tone Xeno waits on never comes. There’s a gentle hand placed on top of his. For a moment he thinks it was someone else. But the touch is most definitely the roughness of Senku’s hand. 

“Xeno,” his voice sounds different, like the voice his uses when talking about his father- soft and easy. Unlike that tone though, there’s truth that is coming up his throat, “now don’t just say something like that and not look at me.”

He doesn’t want to look at him. But he does. Because Senku is being so merciful with his let down. 

Xeno didn’t think he could feel anymore anxious in his life. Totally not the elegance and confidence he wanted to achieve. But perhaps that was all Senku’s fault, for making his heart soft. 

Senku’s eyes are fixed on him. Those beautiful rubies gleaming back at him. His brows knit together in thought. His hand hadn’t moved. 

“I thought you had me figured out, but it looks like I’m the one who didn’t figure you out first, how foolish of me.” Senku grins and Xeno feels his heart stop. 

“By that you mean?”

Xeno wasn’t an idiot. He knew what he meant but did he really mean it?

“Here I was so worried you were going to disown me for falling in love with you, but here you are confessing like we’re in high school.” Senku leans forward on the table, his hand slipping their fingers together between each other. 

Xeno feels his words catch in his throat. Eyes wide and staring at this grinning, blushing, confident scientist across from him. 

“That’s not a very elegant expression doc.” Senku teases him. 

“I just- I um..” Xeno pets down his pompadour, “I’m just happy is all, that the feeling is-“

“Ten billion percent mutual.”

Xeno laughs shakily and swallows. There’s a small screech of Senku’s chair. And in a moments notice Xeno feels his lips against his. He makes a noise of surprise and Senku’s confidence shows in his eyes as they meet beside the kiss. 

“Sorry doc,” Xeno really doesn’t believe this is happening, “I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.”

“You’re not the type to hide things Senku, if it’s been such a long time why have you said nothing.” 

Senku stands straight and shrugs, “workplace romances aren’t my style- or we’ll I thought they weren’t and besides, I totally thought you had a thing for my old man.”

They stare at each other a moment then bust out laughing. Xeno has never felt more relief in his life. 

“Well, now you know how far from the truth that is, are we going steady?” Xeno quirks a brow, knowing the question would make the other gift his ears with more laughter. 

Xeno had been out of it. Maybe that made the confession easier. Senku was worried he had found out his own truth. He sighs himself. They were both the fool and the victors. 

The rest of their evening was, eventful to say the least. Their tournament kicked off again and they agreed on a time where they would have what Xeno called a _proper date_. He liked Senku’s version too, but he wanted to feel that closeness with him like other couples were allowed to experience.

Before he leaves Senku grabs him by the collar and pulls him into a kiss. It’s something he’ll have to learn to melt into. Because from this day forward he knew there would be no avoiding the younger man. Now that they had each other in their grasps, Xeno knew neither would stand to let go.

**Author's Note:**

> Totally couldn’t just pick one ship >w< so I hope you enjoyed the second part of your gift!!! :D


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